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Take action to maintain religious harmony

Published : Tuesday, 19 October, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 927

Take action to maintain religious harmony

Take action to maintain religious harmony

The events of the last few days centering on the incident of a puja mandap in Comilla during the Durga Puja are very disturbing and painful. In the last few days, several Durga Puja mandapas, temples, and houses have been attacked. The death toll in Comilla and Chandpur causes concern. The protesting crowd was fired upon.

About 20 houses were set on fire in Rangpur's Pirganj Upazila amid tight security and strict surveillance by law enforcement agencies. Police confirmed that the incident took place on Sunday night in the Majhipara area of Ramnathpur union on the charge of insulting religious belief on Facebook.

The incident of desecration of the Holy Qur'an is highly reprehensible. It is important to find out who or what caused this incident. We know that there have been attacks and arsons in the past in Ramu in Cox's Bazar and Nasirnagar in Brahmanbaria for posting offensive and provocative posts on Facebook. The ancient pagodas of the Buddhist community in Ramu and the temples and houses of the Hindus in Nasirnagar were attacked and looted. As it turned out, both incidents on the Facebook post were conspiratorial.

Thus, over the past decade, there have been a series of attacks on minority communities in Bangladesh. No justice has been ensured for most of these attacks. Instead, those involved in the Nasirnagar attack were nominated for the Union Parishad elections by the ruling party. Their nominations were withdrawn in the face of huge criticism.

On the other hand, the government has tried to handle the situation by deploying police, RAB, and BGB as a problem of law and order. The fact that such a situation has to be dealt with by people from all walks of life. It is the responsibility of the government to protect the life and property of every citizen of the country, irrespective of his religion.

After the Comilla incident, the question arises as to why the subsequent violence could not be stopped even with the deployment of BGB in almost half of the districts of the country or the effectiveness of the measures taken by the government in the risky areas. Human rights activists and the Hindu community are also questioning whether the incidents, which did not immediately reach the country's media and disrupted internet services during the violence, have played a role in pushing the situation out of control.

We have noticed, leaders of the country's main political parties have blamed each other rather than resisting terrorists out of a sense of moral responsibility, which is extremely sad.

"Frequent attacks on minorities can have an impact on regional politics, in addition to domestic politics. Elections will be held in five Indian states, early next year. The trend of communal politics is strong in India. Persecution of minorities in Bangladesh indicates the influence communal politics of neighbouring country. Some of the signs or patterns of these violences have recently been reflected in the behaviour of Indian politicians."

Immediately after the attack on the puja mandap in Comilla, the president and general secretary of a major party in West Bengal spoke of direct intervention in Bangladesh. Such comments are not new. Such remarks by Indian politicians put the country's minorities at greater risk. The problem of Bangladesh should be solved by Bangladesh, not others.

It is not acceptable to attack in a hurry after hearing the allegations of insulting religion. If anyone insults religious values, action can be taken according to the laws of the country. The government will take the necessary measures. If the government does not take any action, pressure will have to be put on the government. But attacking innocent people for no reason cannot be a civilized act.

The government needs to be tougher on the real cuprites who try to destroy religious harmony. The entire country has to unite and resist it. Those who have attacked minorities must be identified and brought to book. I would like to see the reflection of the Prime Minister's statement that the criminals will not get an exemption.

And the rhetoric that incites violence and hatred, divides and alienates people in different religions, needs to be stopped immediately. Instead of violence and hatred, let harmony and goodwill be awakened in people.
The writer is pursuing LLB, Department of Law, University of Rajshahi








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